Congress weighs school lunch rules

WASHINGTON — Add another item to lawmakers’ busy fall agenda: Congress must decide whether to do battle again with first lady Michelle Obama over school lunches with more whole grains and less salt.

Last year, school food rules pitted the first lady against House Republicans seeking temporary exemptions for some schools. She declared that she would fight “to the bitter end” to make sure kids have good nutrition, and Republicans eventually abandoned the exemptions push.

Michelle Obama and a student look over their plates as they dine in the East Room of the White House last fall, when school lunch rules pitted Republicans seeking full exemptions for some schools against the first lady ensuring kids get good nutrition. The Associated Press

Now, Republicans are hoping to find bipartisan compromise on the rules and also dollars for the nation’s child nutrition programs before the law expires Sept. 30. So far, however, negotiations have failed to produce a bill in either the House or the Senate.

Lawmakers may not seek an immediate extension if the law expires. The school food rules won’t change unless Congress takes action, and the Agriculture Department says other programs would continue to operate as long as Congress passes a budget this fall.

The rules phased in since 2012 set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond. Schools have long been required to follow government nutrition rules if they accept federal reimbursements for free and reduced-price meals for low-income students, but the new standards are stricter.

FINDING A BALANCE

While many schools have had success putting the rules in place, many Republicans say the standards have posed too many challenges for school nutrition officials who must balance serving healthy foods with getting kids to eat their lunches.

The School Nutrition Association, a group of school nutrition directors, has pushed Congress to ease the whole grain and sodium standards and eliminate the stipulation that all children buying a full lunch take a fruit or vegetable. They are also seeking a higher federal reimbursement rate.

Democrats, including the first lady, argue that the standards are working and should be left as they are.

Beyond school lunch, child nutrition programs expiring at the end of the month include the Agriculture Department’s Women, Infants and Children program for new and expecting mothers and their children, summer feeding programs, and other government institutional food aid.

Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., is negotiating with the panel’s top Democrat, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, in an attempt to get a bipartisan bill. He said this week that the sodium standards are a priority.

The 2012 standards already have lowered salt levels in school meals, with even lower sodium levels set to start in two years. Some schools have said they will have to take popular items off their menus if the 2017 levels go into effect.

Jessica Shelly, food service director at Cincinnati’s urban public schools, says the new standards would mean she couldn’t serve soy sauce or hot sauce with some items, condiments that have helped her get kids to eat healthier foods like greens.

‘IT’S NOT ABOUT POLITICS’

“We need to take care of that,” Roberts said of the upcoming sodium rules. “You are serving kids food that some people would like to mandate that they eat, but they are simply not eating it.”

After the Republican bid for temporary exemptions failed last year, Congress passed legislation that would allow schools to request waivers from some of the whole grain requirements and put off the 2017 sodium standards until further scientific research proves they are beneficial. The Senate bill could make those changes permanent.

Stabenow seems unwilling to go along with that, saying Congress has already compromised. She says higher sodium levels mean more children are at risk of high blood pressure.

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, is also negotiating a bill and has signaled he wants changes. But that panel has not given a timeline for any action.

Democrats and the administration are hoping time is on their side as students, school officials and food companies have now had three years to adjust to the healthier standards.

“That message is beginning to penetrate and resonate,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an interview. “It’s a different climate.”

Obama has continued to champion the standards’ success, but she has tempered her tone somewhat as Congress works on the issue.

“We all need to work together on this issue, because we know that issues like child nutrition, it’s not about politics,” she said at an event this week. “This is about giving our children a fair shot in life.”

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John Smith

why not just give each child a multi-vitamin tablet and a big mac, or other favorite fast food lunch item they will consume? save mucho dollars and the kids will be healthy and happy with their lunches.. let’s stop trying to combine food with nutrients.

StrangeOneClearcut

REpublicans who were the ones who said ketchup and relish = vegetable.
Kids should be eating healthy.Less junk food more good healthy food.
Do you care about your children ?

KennebunkportIndependent

My sons spent a year in France when I worked there. They attended a local French village school. I was invited to one lunch. Lunch was an eye-opener: the pupils sat at a table of eight, with a teacher serving food just as at home. Two kids would act as waiter, getting the food and clearing it away. The food was locally sourced and freshly prepared – a roast of lamb, local new potatoes, local carrots. (There was cauliflower & cheese for vegetarians.) Desert was an apple and local cheese, with crackers. Lunch was leisurely – 45 minutes – while the children and teachers conversed, relaxed, and recharged batteries. It ended with the head teacher giving out any notices, and praising the children for their good work – and occasionally chiding them if they needed it.

All food was local, fresh (the school had no freezer or deep fry), and served en famille and not in a rush. And the cost, so I was told, was less than that spend in big city schools that used prepared, frozen and fried food.

The thing that would shock Americans (not this one) is that one of the ‘waiters’ (ca. 12 years old) offered the teacher and myself a glass of local white, or red, wine with our lunch, pouring it with real skill and panache. Can you ever imagine that happening in ‘puritan’ America?

maineman

We know you don’t like it so just throw it away.
Best wishes,
Michelle

notspot

Agreed! The proper way is to give a child want it wants not what it needs!